Mercedes is on 111 points, far ahead of its nearest rivals: Force India on 44 points and McLaren on 43, both of which use Mercedes engines. Red Bull Racing won the constructors’ title in 2013 but the car is off the pace this year after new rules were imposed on engines and car aerodynamics, among other things.

Sebastian Vettel, the four-time defending champion, is down in sixth place in the drivers’ championship on 23 points. He drives for Red Bull Racing, which uses a Renault engine.

The Mercedes team got maximum points in the last two races in Bahrain and Malaysia, after its British driver Lewis Hamilton topped the podium and his German teammate Nico Rosberg finished second in both races. Rosberg is at the head of the drivers’ championship, though, as he bagged 25 points after winning the season opener in Australia when Hamilton withdrew on the second lap with engine trouble.

Rosberg is on 61 points and Hamilton has 50.

Given how the season has shaped up since, the Chinese Grand Prix is likely to be a showdown between these two drivers. Their duel in Bahrain on April 6 was the closest of the season, with Hamilton finishing just one second ahead of Rosberg after starting behind him on the grid.

This will be the 11th Chinese Grand Prix, a race that Hamilton has won twice, in 2008 and 2011, and Rosberg has won once, in 2012. Rubens Barrichello won the inaugural race in 2004.

The Shanghai International Circuit is 5.45 kilometers (3.39 miles) long and features 56 laps, so the total race distance is 305 kilometers (190 miles). The back straight is the longest in F1. Michael Schumacher, who remains in a coma after a skiing accident in December, holds the lap record of 1:32.238 minutes, from 2004.

“The Grand Prix in China is still something special for me, because I won my first race there with Red Bull Racing in 2009,” Vettel was quoted as saying on the official F1 website. “As far as the city of Shanghai goes, if I have time to go into the city I like to go to the Bund,” the German added.

Hamilton said he feels refreshed and that the Mercedes team is growing in confidence, a sentiment echoed by his teammate Rosberg, who admitted being disappointed after coming second in Bahrain. “The Chinese fans are great … really enthusiastic. It’s nice to see how much they like our sport and how they cheer us during the race weekend,” Rosberg added.

“We head to the next race in China with good momentum behind us and motivation is extremely high,” said Toto Wolff, executive director of the Mercedes team. “The team is now at a level where success is not a bonus but an expectation.”